LIONEL HEATHCOTE, R.N.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14144, 20 August 1909, Page 3

LIONEL HEATHCOTE, R.N.

No. VIII.

BY A. FOSTER BAYNES.

(ALIj rights STRICTLY reserved)

" SUPPRESSED EVIDENCE."

"I prhsoie that it is quite unnecessary to warn you, Mr. Heathcote, as a sensible man of the world," said tho fussy little counsel, as they stood in the dim, sepul-chral-looking corridor outside the Admiralty Court, " that there are people in connection with this remarkable case of ours who would do anything—l say, sir. would give anything— have some of the principal witnesses out of the way! You see, where such grave, such very grave, interests arc at stakeon tho one side that of a captain, and an R.N.R. lieutenant at that; on the other, the reputation of a great and reputable shipbuilding firm, with trio responsibility of deciding as to whom the loss of lit'e'is due 4 —each witness may make a great deal of difference m the poise of tho judicial scales. And it is just possible —I say, sir, it is just possible," laying his hand on Heathcote's arm and looking up at him shrewdly, " that someone might attempt a removal of these very necessary assets to our cause. Of course you understand, lieutenant, that 1 cast no aspersions —it is merely a legal man's knack of looking at every possible view of the case. Now I must go in, so we will adjourn the discussion sine die— will not forget, lieutenant''"

Heathcote smiled, as much at the little man's dry-as-dust appearance as at his use of tke It.N.R. title, to which Heathcote was entitled, and answered, good-hum-ouredly, " I shall not forget, Mr. Russel —you may rest assured of that!" "Good, sir—good!" was the emphatic reply. "I shall trust entirely to your discretion, then, Mr. Heathcote!" Heathcote did not quite see how he could possibly do otherwise, but expressed himself delighted with the compliment, still smiling affably, and walked off to have a smoke outside. There he met Captain Warrington, looking pitiably weak and nervous, who greeted him with a ghost of a smile, and remarked, Well, Heathcote, I wonder what the next day or two will bring forth !" "I don't think there is much room for doubt on that matter, captain!" was his encouraging reply uttered with considerably more gusto than was his wont. " Complete and absolute exoneration of all blame, and the vindication of your good name are, to my mind, the only possible results of tin's formal inquiry." Captain Warrington shook his head weakly, find ho looked ten years older to Heathcote, as he said slowly, " I don't know, Heathcote; those confounded tanks, you know."

"What tanks?" asked Heathcote, affecting surprise. Captain Warrington looked at him as though he thought he had taken leave of his senses.

"Why! The water ballast tanks that were the cause of the whole business, in all probability !" he answered quickly. "You. are not so thick-headed as all that, Heathcote. What is your game, man?" "Oh, yes!" drawled Heathcote, slowly, fixing the other's eye through his monocle. "I always said that their pitiful inadequacy was the cause of the whole affair. But how in the world does that affect you, sir?" The captain seized him by the arm, with a grip that showed the nervous tension behind only too plainly. " Heathcote, man he asked. "Is it fair to have games at the expense of a broken man. You know that those tanks were empty!" "An contrail'!" remarked Heathcote, raising his eyebrows at the hare idea of the opposite thought being advanced. "Au contrair, man capitan; I know that they were full. I am afraid, sir, that that touch of brain fever made your memory just a little bit weak about preceding events. By jove, sir; you will assuredly ruin your own case if you make rash statements of that description, which are totally without foundation."

" But—but," gasped poor Captain Warrington., "but I distinctly remember sending Mr. Howard down to tell the chief engineer, that he would leave, them empty, Heathcote. Good God! I must be going mad!"

"By no means, sir; by no means!" said Heathcote, soothingly. "You certainly did send that message, down, but half an hour later you countermanded it, also by the

medium of Mr. Howard. He will bear me out in my statements. Unfortunately, both log-books went down with the ship, and there is no written evidence of any kind ! Captain Warrington's head went back, Ins cheeks flushed, and his eyes brightened. Ho looked a younger man by several years as lie throw out hie chest and said to Heathcote, " Great heavens! Is that so, old man? Why on earth did you not tell me that loin; ago'/'' Heathcote smiled quietly. " For several reasons, sir," he said judicially. "Firstly, I did not know myself until quite recently, when Howard told me that you had countermanded the order. Secondly, I not unnaturally thought that you would know of it yourself. Of course it will not be advisable to mention in court either' that you had—er—forgotten such an important incident, or that I heard it from Howard. The court might consider such evidence most unsatisfactory, and it is really as plain'as daylight." Captain Warrington seized him by the arm again, an anxious light in his eyes. " You are not playing any funny games, Heathcote?" he asked anxiously. "I won't tell lies about it to save my own ticket or anyone else's." '" You pay me a very poor compliment, Captain Warrington," returned Heathcote stiffly. "Forgive me, old man,"' said the captain, seizing him by ihe hand with a nervous grip. "I'm not myself just now, and hardly know what I am saying or doing."

Heathcote stood 011 the massive stone steps, glad to gel, out of the stifling atmosphere of a city court, lighting a cigarette, and smiling reflectively to himself, as though the turn tilings were taking pleased him immensely. Ho turned courteously at the sound of a. strange voice at the elbow. "Lieutenant Heathcote. I believe'.'" asked the man accosting him, in suave, polished tones. He was a man of medium height, dressed faultlessly in a frock coat and silk lint, with spats over his patent leather boots, and he- was carrying gloves and a cane.

" At your service, sir," was Heathcote's conventional reply. " But I think you have the advantage of me. I really cannot recollect having met you before''' In spite of Heathcote tone of polite inquiry, he was rapidly taking in details of the other's face and dress through hie monocle. The other man smiled. "Naturally not!" ho said pleasantly; "since I do not think we have ever met before to my recollection, at. all events! But! am 'so exceedingly interested in the remarkable case now proceeding, that I thought I might venture to accost you, in the hope of securing a talk with you over the matter. That is my name!" and so saying he handed Heathcote hie card. Heathcote took the little bit of pasteboard, and surveying it critically through his eyeglass, saw printed thereon in a most tasteful manner, "Captain Allan H.M.S. Arrow." Heathsmiled." "A brother in the cloth. I see!" he said pleasantly. "I shall be only too pleased to talk things over with you. As you eay, it is perhaps the most remarkable case of erroneous architectural work in the annals of modern shipbuilding?" The other man smiled. " Doubtless!" he observed politely. " But, have you had lunch? I thought we might talk it over at the Carlton, if you feel so inclined?" ■ "With all the pleasure in life!" returned Heathcote. " I was just thinking of going for a snack myself!" And together they strolled off.

Sealed at a little table in the famous Carlton they discussed the affair *vith animation. Heathcote's interlocutor showed an intimate knowledge of ships, and particularly of the design and build of them. So much so, indeed, that Heathcote observed, at length : "But I really had no idea that you R.N. men knew such a great deal of the various typos of merchant vessels, and the design and build of them?" His companion smiled easily. "Very few of us have!" he admitted. '" Personally, I have made a study of naval architecture in all its branches—just as much so, in fact, in the case of merchant ships as -with our own— I have been one of the few who Have made a, real study of the possibilities of mercantile R.N.R. vessels in the event of

After some desultory small talk Heathcotes companion said: "Have a cigarette, will you? ,L always find a cigar s Heavy just immediately alter lunch, and these are rather choice." , . Heathcote took one, and lit it. sipping his Benedictine between puffs. " Seems to me, he remarked lazily, after a while, "that the atmosphere of those courts is frightfully oppressive. I feelquite— sleepy !'' His monocle dropped from his eye as he spoke, and his head sank forward. His companion looked round as though alarmed, then turned and shook Heathcote by the shoulder. "Come, man; this won't do!" he said, a ring of anxiety in his voice. Let us go— is too beastly hot in here !" Heathcote staggered to his feet, swaying slightly. " Yes," he said, " let's go. * I don't feel quite up to the mark !"

His companion took him by the aim, and, once outside, hailed a passing taxicab. The main smiled to see a gentleman in such a plight so early in the day, and drove them merrily off.

Heathcote awoke with his head throbbing, and a kind of dazed wonderment, to bear someone addressing him as he had never been addressed before.

" Get up, you lazy lubber !" said a hoarse voice at his elbow. lie sat, up, looking round him dazedly. Then, as his eyes conveyed the details of his surroundings to his brain, and he slowly realised the meaning of it all, he sat up in his bunk, felt for his eyeglass, and drawled : " Shanghaied, by Gad !" He was in a sailing vessel's forecastle —his surroundings filthy, the air filled with a chorus of drunken snores, oaths, obscenity, and foul tobacco smoke. The boatswain —for such was evidently the identity of the man at his elbowregarded him for some moments in silence; then, "By !" he said ; " what kind of galoot has that Dicky Jones* palmed off on us this lime !" Then to Heathcote : " Get out of that, you lazy, good-for-nothing tailor !"

Heathcote swung one lea, over his bunkbbard, followed it slowly with the other, dropped to the deck, and taking two steps up to the boatswain drawled : " I beg your pardon, mon ami?" "Busted if he ain't a furriner as well as a bloomin' torf!" soliloquised the boatswain. Then to him, "Get on deck, you

There was not a more surprised man on earth—or rather waterthan that boatswain three minutes later, as he sat up on deck trying to rub half a dozen spots at once, while the cause of all the commotion stood smilingly lighting a cigarette which he found his kidnappers had been magnanimous enough to leave him. Get up!" he commanded presently, "and take me aft to the captain of this old barge, and I'll try to persuade him that he bus done the wrong thing this time!" • The man obeyed, muttering sotto voce that " that Dicky Jones has made a mess of things this time. He's got Fitzsimmons and Joey Chamberlain rolled into 0110 hero!" And he led the way aft. As they went along the deck Heathcote noticed" that, they were still towing down the Thames, and were about abreast of Greenhithe.

Arriving aft, ho contrived to tell the skipper something less than nothing—that worthy first standing aghast at the audacity of the man with the eyeglass, whom he adjudged to be some bank clerk whom the boardinghouse master had shanghaied aboard his ship; then waxing exceeding wroth, and bidding him " get away to bis work," with various unnecessary expletives.

Heathcote walked forward again smiling- He had seen something that had escaped the skipper's observation, and which would probably have conveyed nothing to him had he noticed it. That (Something was a. long, grey hull, with four giant smoke-stacks belching forth clouds of dirty smoke into the clear air, rapidly approaching. Quickly Heathcote made, his way to the forecastle, seized a couple of the drunkards' coats, knocked the heads off as many brooms, and, tying the sleeves of the coals un and down the handles, ran aloft up the fore with the agility of a monkey. The skipper caught sight of him just as ho reached the royal yard, and was sitting astride it, making the. semaphore signal J with his improvised.flags. He. called the mate to him. "Look !" lie said, pointing, "for God's sake, look! Arid I thought he was a counter-jumper!"

Having gained the warship's attention, Heathcote signalled methodically, his arms going with the rapidity of windmill sails and the accuracy of clockwork, "Lieutenant Heathcote, commissioner R.N.R., Shanghai. Important witness re 'Flint* case. Rescue imperative." A string of colours appeared immediately, above the man-of-war's bridge. "Look at the beggars said the skipper, fairly dancing with excitement. " They are signalling us- We won't see them!"

But it was of no use. The great grey ship swung slowly, and coming up- on the other side of them fired a blank charge. The tugboat ahead of the sailing ship stopped, mystified, and, as both ships lost way together, a boat shot from the cruiser's side and made a bee-line for the sailing ship's poop.

The mate himself, now thoroughly cowed, put a rope over a rope-ladder for the gorgeous naval lieutenant, to climb aboard by. Heathcote met him on deck at the head of it.

" Hulloa, Street!" he said,' extending his hand. "How do you like my ship?" The other man grinned. " How're you, Heathcote?" he said. " Never so surprised in my life as when the signalman reported to me. I've orders to arrest this old tub !"

" I don't care a hang what you do" with her!" drawled Heathcote. "But for humanity's sake get me ashoreand have you a cigarette?"

No. IX. of these interesting series, entitled, " THE BLOCKADE-RUNNER," will be published in a future issue.